A millionaire London businessman accused of sexually assaulting a female tourist on Bondi Beach told her that any police complaint against him would “go nowhere” because he was rich, a Sydney court has heard.

Gregory Cox, 32, who founded the Quintessential Finance Group, faces two counts of having sexual intercourse with the 21-year-old tourist without her consent. Mr Cox, from Battersea, denies the charges.

The crown alleged that Cox said to the woman: “Make it worth my while. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

He was also accused of saying, “I have a lot of money” and telling the woman if she went to the police or told anyone “it would go nowhere”.

The woman left the beach crying and sought the help of a couple who took her to Bondi police station.

In her opening address on the first day of his Sydney district court trial, Crown prosecutor Elizabeth Wilkins told the jury the assaults happened on January 22 last year. Ms Wilkins said Cox, who was on a holiday trip, and a friend had met the 21-year-old woman earlier that day at the beachside Bucket List bar.

During that evening, the woman consumed white wine, rose and Jagerbombs — Jagermeister mixed with Red Bull. After Cox’s friend left, Cox and the woman walked off together along Bondi Beach.

Later, it was alleged, Cox forced the tourist to twice perform oral sex on him on the sand near the lifeguard tower. She recalled crying and being terrified, the jury heard.

Cox’s defence barrister, Graham Turnbull, SC, told the jury the case rested on the word “consent”: “That is the issue in this trial — consent.

“The Crown says there was intimidation and coercive conduct. That will be hotly contested.”

There will be evidence that Cox told his friends the next day the sex was consensual, but that afterwards the woman had “freaked out”.